On our last Sunday in Japan we helped host “American Dinner” along with the HBC staff. It was pretty cool. We had chicken pitas, macaroni salad, and clam chowder. While OS gave a short message to the parents we played a few games with the kids and sang some of the JJ5D songs. It was really fun and yet bittersweet to know it would be the last time we would see and sing with the JJ children.
As one of the activities, the kids drew pictures of their sensei’s. It was pretty neat. (The picture above is of Kimi and I. The drawing to my left is of Kimmie and to my right is Patrick) The kids are so cute! I and everyone else had a really fun time playing with them. We definitely miss everyone there.
On Monday we went to Nara. This is of the building housing the biggest Buddha statue I’ve ever seen. Apparently this is the 3rd reconstruction of the building though because the first two got burned up. The front of the building has this creepy looking wooden statue on the side that apparently wears a red cape. I have no idea why. It sort of reminded me of Halloween though.
This is a picture of some of our group with the deer. As Kenny said, “Oh dear, there’s a lot of deer here.” And there was. And…they chased me…thanks to our dear team leader. It was all fun though.
Above is a picture of the aforementioned big Buddha. 10 people can stand on its hand, the one you can’t really see from this angle. And apparently this hole that Rosa is crawling through is the size of the statue’s nose, or so I was told. Either way, that statue was huge!
We also saw this really pretty garden, it was so picturesque. This is only a tiny part of it. There were also a forest, many small bridges over the stream as well as a small water mill. So pretty!
Here is a picture of one of the original castles in Nara. It looked like it had been remodeled recently. We only drove by because it was closed and we had to head back. I wonder what it looks like inside though. It had this cool looking moat all around it. After that we went back to Osaka to have sushi for dinner…or at least most of us did. 🙂 And that pretty much concludes the Japan side of our trip.
Thank you for your prayers! We arrived at LAX at 8:30 and all our luggage was already awaiting us along with family members. It’s time to go back to work now for some of us.
It is 5:26am and we are currently waiting to board our flight to LA. It’s pretty crazy to think that we will finally be home, Lord willing, in about 3 hours. It has been a great trip so far including our extra stay here in Seattle. The Lord has been very gracious to us in allowing us time to hang out as a team one last time and to have no mishaps so far today. Thank you for your prayers for us and we will see you all very soon!
We missed our connecting flight from Seattle to lax. So we will be staying overnight in Seattle and then catching a 0600 flight tomorrow morning. We will provide further updates later haha. for now, we are looking to see if we can track down our luggage and then have more team bonding time!
We finished up our second week of Joy Joy 5 Days. These past 2 weeks of Joy Joy went by so fast. We’re going to miss the kids, the songs, the crafts and the Japanese staff so much. It’s been such a blessing to be able to serve at Joy Joy. We’ve learned so much, been encouraged in so many ways and enjoyed many laughs and fun times.
Purple class lovin' their McDonalds for lunch on the last day
We ended our last day of Joy Joy with presentations for each of the classes. The kids had the opportunity to show their parents what they’ve been learning and perform a song.
Purple class getting ready to perform
Here’s a video of Yellow Class performing If You’re Happy and You Know It.
Pink class performing The Good Song
Orange class singing Jesus Loves Me
At the end of the presentations the week was recapped through a slideshow and Okada Sensei shared a short message with the parents.
To celebrate, the team along with Tomomi, Kat, Akemi, Erisa, Momo San and Takashi went to enjoy some JBBQ (Yakiniku). We had a lot of fun eating tons of meat and fellowshipping with the team and the Japanese staff. To top off a great night there was all you can eat dessert, a shaved ice bar and cotton candy! We were so full we decided to take a long walk back instead of taking the train.
All smiles from Momo San, Kenny, Takashi and Ed after finishing all their meat at Yakiniku
The girls enjoyed their Yakiniku too
Thank you so much for your prayers. Even though Joy Joy has ended, please continue to pray for the children and their parents 🙂
God continues to shower us with his blessings here in Joy Joy Japan, as we now enter day three of the second week of the Joy Joy 5 Day program. And we are still just as enthusiastic as ever! As usual, once everyone had gathered we began our group meeting for the day.
You can tell how excited we are by the look of our smiling faces!
Kimmie discussing crafts to the staff.
As you can see, lots of preparation is required.
Once we had our little guests collected and seated, we proceeded into music. Music time is always treat, for you never know who may be forc-*cough*-invited up to help lead in the day’s worship songs.
Pastor Okada and Patrick were naturals when it came to leading thesongs...
Once the younger and older classes are separated, Etsuko began to teach the children of the events in Luke, such as the tale of the Rich Young ruler. A tragic story of a young man fit with riches, attempting to grasp on to the gift of eternal life, but turns it away as he finds that it requires him to give up his on his precious wealth. Truly a story that kept the children’s attention…
-They Certainly Seem Attentive
With the lesson done, the kids’ minds are then tested with a game, THE CHANGE GAME! Here the young students are asked to observe their teachers carefully, as they must later point out the changes in their appearance the next time they appear on stage.
-Yellow Class' teachers Rosa and Ingrid
-Can you spot the changes?
But what good is a day without crafts? After the kids had their perception tested during the previous game, it is time for them to settle down and get in touch with their creative sides. Today, it was maracas!
All you need is a clear water bottle, some pinto beans, pieces of tissue paper, some glue, a long string of yarn, an imaginative mind, and you’re good to go.
The End Result! Felling Artistic Yet?
Now, It’s not fair the kids to have their minds stretched without offering them a small break now and again, so we felt that lunch was a must.
Finally, before we send the kids packing, we gave them a quick English lesson. For today, we taught them about things around the school.
Once the day with the kids had finally ended and everything is made clean and prepped for the the following day, the team split into their separate ways. However, as the rest of the crew left to enjoy the company of their host family, Patrick, Kenneth, Ed, Kimmie, Ukemi, and Etsuko left to ascend into the heights of Japan’s Sky Tower.
It was a spectacular way to end the day after a job well done. Witnessing the glory of God’s creation, high above the earth, and taking into perspective the power of our Lord. Making us ecstatic for the day when we can meet our maker.
Yesterday, our team went to the mall with Mrs. Okada, Nicki, and Noah. We ate lunch, played in the arcades, and shopped!
Afterward, we went to their apartment for a yummy dinner and more fun hanging out!
the Jedi Training Academy!
oh no!! Nate got Kenny!!!
time to jam!
now we wait for fireworks!
quote of the day: (Sabrina) “what’s my name?” (Nate) “Cockroach!”
The Start of Joy Joy 5 Days (#2)
Today we started all over again–new kids, some new staff help, and a new week! But we also have staff from last week, memories, and a little bit more confidence (well, I guess, all the veterans had that already….).
Wow, it’s pretty crazy to think that our trip is just about halfway over. Saturday marked the last day of Joy Joy 5 Days and we definitely miss the kids already and it was sad to wave goodbye to them as they left the church.
Gonna miss them! If you look closely at Kenny in the back, I think he was starting to get a headache from trying to control the rowdy kids haha.
Okada sensei put together a 5 minute video presentation of our past week. If you’re interested in seeing what our day to day ministry looks like, feel free to check out the video. You’ll get a good summary of what we’ve done this past week. (At around 4:00, you can even hear the kids singing!)
For the last day of Joy Joy 5 Days, we had to prepare a presentation for the parents. Each class was to prepare a short 5-10 minute presentation for the parents. Each class had the kids present a song or two and a brief recap of the English lessons they learned this past week.
Pink class practicing their presentation!
Blue class!
Singing "This is the Day"
Reviewing the English words
Singing "Cast Your Cares"
Saying "Bye" to the Ikeda brothers (From left to right: Kenny, Koki, Rosa, Haruki, Sarah, Patrick and Kimmie)
Reiterating what Kimmie mentioned in her post, please continue praying that the “hearts of the kids and parents of JJ5D would be like the good soil, in which the seeds of the gospel planted this week can grow to bear good fruit.” We really do hope that seeds were planted this week through the Bible lessons and through the songs. We can trust that God will use that for His glory and we know that He has the power to change hearts—even the hearts of these little ones.
Even today, at church, it was good to see a couple of the kids from my class come to church for Sunday school. Typically, there are some kids who come to Sunday school for a couple Sundays after JJ5D is over, but it usually isn’t more than that. Please pray that God will allow these kids to continue coming to church and be further exposed to the Gospel. It is sobering to think about what these cute kids will be like when they grow up. Will they grow up and have hardened hearts and forget about all that they learned here in this week? Judging by the spiritual climate in Japan, the answer is probably yes. But nevertheless, we believe in a God who has the power to change hearts. He can do more than we can even think or imagine! We ought to pray to that end for these kids.
Sunday:
This morning at church, Cece, me, Ingrid and Kimmie gave our testimonies in front of the congregation. In light of the busyness of this past week, Sunday marked a day where we could spend the time hanging out with the church members and their families and not need to be preparing for our next week of Joy Joy 5 Days. The kids love having the American “missionaries” around and so it was good to spend some extended time with them. In the evening, some of the team members helped out with EDGE, the church’s biweekly fellowship for junior high and high schoolers. It was good to see that some of the ones who attended Joy Joy 4 Nights came back tonight to attend EDGE. We hope that the church can continue to minister to them in that way.
Please continue praying for us as we continue another week of Joy Joy 5 Days. We do it all over again but with a new set of kids. Pray that we would continue to serve with right hearts and assist the Japanese staff here, since they do so much already.
Thanks for reading and praying!
For His glory,
Ed
P.S. I’ll end with some additional footage of Okada sensei doing the Subarashi song. He says that in all his years of doing this program, it was one of the first times he had to go up on stage and do the hand motions. We finally got him!
Just about a week has passed since we first arrived in Japan and there is much to update you on! Thank you so much for your love and prayers for us and for the ministry here. The Lord has been abundantly gracious to us thus far, and we’re looking forward to how He will continue to work in the weeks to come!
So since you all don’t get to be in Japan with us, I want to give you an idea of what our daily life has been like for us this past week. Hopefully by the end of this post, you will feel like you’ve been here too!
A Day in the Life of Kimmie & Sarah
BREAKFAST
Sarah and I are staying with the Yagis this year, and it has been such a blessing to be a part of their family for our time here (shown below):
Sarah and I with our wonderful host family 🙂
Every morning we come down to a delicious breakfast made by Yagi-san (Mrs. Yagi, on my left) and get to spend some time with the family. She has been such an encouragement to me since I met her 3 years ago, and I’m really glad we get to stay with her this year. When she was in her early 30’s, she became a believer through a friend and has been attending Hamadera Bible Church for 36 years. She has 2 daughters: 1) Tomoko (pictured in the back) is married to another member of HBC and they have a daughter named Mimi (sitting down) and 2) Etsuko (taking the picture) works as the church secretary. Yagi-san has such a servant’s heart and is always so joyful whenever I see her. What a great example of a woman who loves the Lord and is raising her family in the church!
Yagi-san also helped with our classroom for Joy Joy 5 Days this week. Here she is singing with the kids during worship time.
After breakfast, we have some time to hang out with Yagi-san’s granddaughter Mimi. Every morning we’ve done something different – origami, piano, ABCs, math, stuffed animals, etc. Today she even started twirling a baton for us! Soon we have to say goodbye and leave for church, but playing with Mimi is always a good start to the day. I will leave you with a fun picture we took this morning:
Meet Mimi. Silly girl 🙂
JOY JOY 5 DAYS (JJ5D)
Tomorrow is our last day of Joy Joy 5 Days, and it has been a good first week! When we get to church, we normally first have a team devo and then we meet/pray with the HBC staff. There is no better way to start the day than in the Word and in prayer before the Lord!
Soon after, the kids start coming and the madness begins! We start off the day with worship songs both in English and Japanese. Here are a couple of samples for you to hear:
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Ps. 34:18)
This Japanese song is about Jesus being a wonderful Savior and praising Him from our hearts. (“Subarashii” = wonderful, “Sukuinushi” = Savior).
Then it’s time for English class. Sarah and I teach the Orange class (first graders) and it has been such a joy to be with them! We have a pretty mellow bunch of kids this week, but we’re also having a lot of fun with them. Every day we teach them a few words and play some games with them to reinforce the English lesson.
Here is Sarah teaching our kids the word "Bible".
After English time, we head downstairs for lunch and games:
Miyu-chan enjoying her curry. Oishii (delicious)!
The junior highers have also been serving this year at Joy Joy. Here is Noah Okada hanging out with some of our boys. He was an excellent help with our class this week!
Next, we take the kids into the sanctuary for Bible time. Even though we are here as English teachers, our main desire is that the kids would walk away from this week with an understanding of the gospel and with fond memories from their time at church. We’ve been praying each day that the Lord would be softening their hearts to His Truth and that He would save them if that is His will for them! This year, they are going through the life of Jesus.
This is Etsuko teaching about Jesus extending His grace to Zacchaeus, as He does with everyone who repents of their sin. "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
After the Bible lesson, the kids get to play a game. In this game, the classes compete to get the most pom pom balls into the bucket.
The last activity of the day is crafts!
The girls of Orange class making lion masks! "The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing." (Psalm 34:10)
Sometimes the boys finish early, so they find other things to do. Meet Daisuke, the loudest and funniest (and most stylin'!) one in our class 🙂
After another short time of singing, the kids head home and before we know it, another day of Joy Joy has passed. Tomorrow, we have a presentation to show their parents what they’ve learned. We pray that we’ve been faithful to live out the gospel as we’ve interacted with them this week!
JOY JOY 4 NIGHTS
This week, we also have Joy Joy 4 Nights events for the junior high and high school students. We start cooking dinner for them soon after Joy Joy 5 Days ends and then prepare for the night. About 16 students in total are signed up, and it has been fun hanging out with and ministering to them as well. Each night we have different activities (games, scavenger hunt, cooking contest, and fireworks at the park) as well as a message from Okada-sensei. We pray that the Lord is working in their hearts as well!
The 4 dishes from the cooking contest (clockwise from the top left): spaghetti, nachos, omelets, and kabobs.
Group picture from Joy Joy 4 Nights
After the Joy Joy 4 Nights kids leave, we usually stay around at church to prepare our lessons for the next day and fellowship with the Japanese staff. As you can tell, our days are really jam-packed and fast-paced, but also filled with many laughs and sweet times. Each day, we thank the Lord for answering our prayers to sustain us and fill us with the love, joy, patience, and humility we need that can only come from Him. And we trust that He is working in the hearts of the children and parents who we’ve gotten to meet!
Prayer Requests
Thank you again for your continued prayers on our behalf. Please continue to pray; here are some specific requests:
+ For all of our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. If we as Americans ever think we’re tired, we only have to look at the three women in charge of JJ5D to be put in our place. These three not only plan and run much of the program, but most days one or the other has to leave early to go to work, and then oftentimes they return later on in the day for more planning. Though I’m sure they’re very tired, it’s so encouraging to us that they still make time to hang out and laugh with us. Please be sure to pray that the Lord would sustain them physically!
+ That we may seek to be an encouragement to everyone we come into contact with – kids, parents, college students, HBC members, and each other.
+ That the hearts of the kids and parents of JJ5D would be like the good soil, in which the seeds of the gospel planted this week can grow to bear good fruit.
+ That the junior highers and high schoolers who came to JJ4N would want to come back for EDGE, HBC’s bi-weekly fellowship for junior highers and high schoolers.
+ That the Lord will strengthen Hamadera Bible Church and his faithful servants here.
+ That God may be glorified in everything we think, say, and do.
Thanks for reading and praying! Keep checking regularly for updates!
Japan STM 2011 
